Occupy CCSU

CCSU-AAUP, SUOAF-AFSCME and students held a rally on April 4, 2012 demanding a shift in the State’s funding priorities.

“We felt it was important to have a rally for quality public higher education,” stated Jason Jones, President of CCSU-AAUP. “The State has been balancing its budget on the backs of students for too long, and it is time we take action and demand that they make higher education accessible to all.”

Despite the benefits to the State, Connecticut has reduced the share it pays of CSU costs over the last 20 years from 74% to 47%. This is one of the main reasons that tuition at our public colleges and universities is at an all-time high, and it continues to increase. For example, at CCSU, full-time tuition and fees increased approximately 600% from 1985 to 2011. During that same time period, faculty and staff salaries nationwide increased at about the same rate as other consumer prices, approximately 200%.

“Public higher education is one of the best investments we can make, yet the state continues to provide less and less of the cost of a college education,” Jones added. “The state must make education and higher education a priority if it wishes to stay strong and competitive.”

The event was held in solidarity with the Occupy Education movement, www.occupyed.org, a coalition of more than 80 local Occupy, labor and community groups across the country fighting to guarantee the right to education for everyone.